How To Succeed With Your Manufacturing Marketing Strategy: A Guide

If you’re in the business of manufacturing, you’ve got a lot on your plate so your manufacturing marketing strategy might be outdated. Between production, logistics and meetings with customers, it’s hard to focus on marketing your business. Even if you’re knowledgeable about online marketing, trying to figure out where to begin can be overwhelming. It would be simpler if you had a guide to direct you while starting out. This article pulls together some of our best tips to prepare Canadian manufacturing companies to attract manufacturer customers online.

Manufacturing companies can think of their first online marketing efforts as a prototype. Plan your manufacturing marketing strategy first, then work out the kinks as you go.

1. Conduct research and plan:

The focus of any marketing strategy is building engagement with customers. Presumably you’re well acquainted with your target audience if you already have a product in the works, but you need a plan for reaching them online and maintaining the relationships you form. By conducting surveys and attending industry events — in other words, staying active to discover your customers’ changing needs and where your competition falls short — you can devise an appropriate plan to attract and keep manufacturer customers.

Think back to your target audience. Have you created any buyer personas yet? Imagine your ideal buyer has typed the name of a specific product that you manufacture into Google. How can you make sure they find you among the other Canadian manufacturing companies? First you have to make sure the search engines can find you, which is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes in play. Since you know who you’re selling to, you can select the right keywords and placement for SEO, provide a clear call-to-action (CTA) on your homepage, and create purposeful content — all essential to manufacturing marketing success.

Think international – do your clients speak a language other than English? Make sure your manufacturing website can be read by potential partners abroad.

For your social media content to receive likes, it has to impact its audience. Get a little personal with readers (but also stay professional) so they get a sense of the person behind the company. This adds dimension to your online presence and fosters meaningful relationships. Also, vary the type of content you share to keep your audience engaged — video and audio content in addition to the written word will help you attract manufacturer customers.

4. Start blogging:

Blogs improve your manufacturing website with added opportunities to engage with clients. Blogs can build rapport by carrying conversations; viewers of your blog posts can respond to what they’ve read and you can respond in turn, while showcasing in detail what your company has to offer.

Email marketing especially comes in handy when building relationships with foreign investors. This is another low cost way to extend your brand and keep your efforts targeted at the right market. It’s easier for your foreign clients to open up an e-newsletter for updates than it is for them to travel to your location (though they may do so down the road once your relationship has grown!).

Canadian Manufacturing Companies: How to Further Develop Your Marketing Campaign

Once you’ve implemented the tips listed above,you can move on to development and consistency. Perhaps you created the initial content yourself, but can now budget for outside assistance. Consider hiring content experts to help you attract international customers. Also consider investing in analytics to track your progress — this way you can know what’s working and what isn’t. Remember those kinks we talked about earlier? Analytics will help you pinpoint those so you can move your prototype on to the next phase.Whether or not you’re new to the world of online marketing, start with a plan. Consider all of the inbound marketing options available to you (such as the tips listed in this guide) and you’ll have the makings of an effective manufacturing marketing strategy.

How to Stay in the Loop: More Manufacturing Marketing Advice, Delivered to You